Chapter 109 A Bond That Can't Keep Up
"Have you heard? The peak master of Jinming Peak is injured and has been lying in his cave every day, not coming out for three years. You know, he used to be the most active one, always running around to different peaks unless he was in seclusion..."
"The version I heard is different from yours. It says that he offended Immortal Venerable Xu Ze, which is why he's hiding on the mountain and not coming out."
"Impossible, absolutely impossible. Do you think hiding will help after offending Immortal Venerable Xu Ze?"
"Then tell me what exactly happened!"
...
Jinming Peak, Yao Sisi's Cave.
A woman dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt stood facing two identical people with a look of utter despair on her face.
No, she didn't do it on purpose, did she?
"Let me explain. I know everyone has secrets, which is understandable. I didn't accidentally stumble upon this. We've known each other for over a hundred years. Hey, Brother Qi Mu, my darling? My precious? You don't have to lock me up like this!"
Yao Sisi said anxiously, "How could I go and spread this around? You have to trust my character. When have I ever talked badly about someone behind their back?"
Qi Mu was not in control of his own mind at this moment, and he was completely unmoved by what the other party said. He was also not as easy to talk to as before.
"You don't talk behind my back, you confront me to my face. You know the biggest secret of my life. How are you going to make it up to me?"
Yao Sisi rummaged through drawers and cabinets, taking out precious magical artifacts and pills that she herself was reluctant to part with, but the other party didn't take a liking to any of them.
Although Qi Mu's physical mind could not control her body, she communicated with her dark soul through her sea of consciousness, saying, "Let it go. She didn't do it on purpose. Don't make things difficult for her over such a small matter."
Dark Soul's face darkened, he was practically going berserk: "Have you no shame? Look at you, you're about to go mad with demonic possession, and you'll drag me down with you. This woman is heartless, once she ascends, you won't even make a promise. At that time, forget about going mad with demonic possession, I think you'll be reduced to ashes. How did I end up with a body like you!"
Qi Mu: "You don't understand."
Dark Soul: "..."
I'm even angrier!
Not far away, Yao Sisi rummaged through her storage space, but this time there really wasn't anything left to take out.
She wore an expression of utter emptiness: "There really isn't a single drop left, truly!"
Dark Soul glanced at her but didn't say anything. Instead, he communicated with his main body and said, "She's out of options. You should tell her that the missing items were replaced by someone else."
The original body: "It's so greasy, I don't want it."
Dark Soul: "???"
So he's the only one being played by these two?
"If you won't tell me, then I will!"
The original body said urgently, "It's no use saying anything. She doesn't have that intention. What's the point of you saying this? It's good that she's focused on the Dao. I haven't lost either."
Dark Soul: "Heh, so you didn't win either!"
The original body: "Being able to stand beside her right now is a victory."
Dark Soul: "But she's about to ascend, while you haven't even reached the threshold of ascension yet, and you've even gone mad with your cultivation. Are you sure you'll still be able to stand by her side then?"
This truly stepped on the main body's landmine. A vortex of spiritual energy appeared above the main body's head, mixed with black energy. Yao Sisi, who was not far away, was on the verge of tears. Good heavens, all he did was not give him anything good, so why was he angry?
She reached out and dispersed the vortex of spiritual energy above his head. Sigh, this guy hasn't recovered since he went into a state of demonic possession three years ago. He talks nonsense all day long, and sometimes even coaxing him doesn't work.
"Let's see if our medical skills are up to par. What obstacle in this world can't be overcome? If we can't overcome it, then we'll crush it!"
Why did he suddenly go crazy? He doesn't want magic treasures or pills to break through his bottleneck. Well, in his current state, he can't break through the bottleneck anyway, so pills are indeed useless.
"I'm not at ease letting you ascend to heaven like this!"
Suddenly, she sensed that the other person paused for a moment.
She astutely realized, "Did you develop inner demons because of my ascension? Aren't you happy that I ascended?"
She instinctively took a step back, a step that pierced Qi Mu's heart.
Yao Sisi frowned: "Where we're from, this is called depression. If it gets serious, you need to take medication. You can't just look at me and not seek medical help."
Seeing that her true form was about to be worsened, Dark Soul hurriedly said, "Are you going to take that vixen Ri Jiu with you when you ascend?"
Yao Sisi pointed to the sky: "Yes, he was able to sign a contract with me and fool that guy."
Dark Soul spoke on behalf of the original body: "So, I'm just anxious. Seeing a healer is useless; even if I do, it won't allow me to ascend."
The original body, locked inside, felt somewhat uncomfortable: "Why are you saying these things!"
Dark Soul didn't mean that at all. He said something even harsher, making the main body choke and unable to breathe: "Right now, I only want to break through without any distractions. If you cultivate with me, we can get through this crisis."
Yao Sisi: "Huh?"
The original body was truly dumbfounded this time: it dared not move, and wished it could just die.
Yao Sisi wanted to pat his head on the ground: "Did you go berserk and damage your brain? And you damaged two of them at once." Damn, isn't he really a "second" idiot?
She seemed both wary and helpless, asking, "Who else did you tell that to?"
The original body has shut down its five senses and doesn't want to talk anymore. It's already dead, utterly shameful. Forget it, let it be destroyed.
Dark Soul: "I haven't had a chance to tell anyone why I went to such lengths instead of staying close by."
Yao Sisi stepped forward: "Do you want me to praise you for being smart? From now on, you are not allowed to leave this cave even once."
Dark Soul chuckled with delight: "What are you going to do?"
Yao Sisi didn't reply to him at all. Who would argue with a patient? She took out a Binding Immortal Rope from her storage space, intending to tie the two of them up. When Dark Soul saw her take out the Binding Immortal Rope, he thought to himself that something was wrong and quickly burrowed into his main body's sea of consciousness, thinking, "What is this woman going to do now? Even in dual cultivation, you don't tie people up, do you?"
His five senses were shut off, so he didn't know that the Dark Soul had entered, nor that he was bound. He just stood there alone with his eyes closed.
After Yao Sisi finished tying him up, he wouldn't wake up no matter how she shook him. So she set up a magic array to protect them both. She also emptied her body and sent a wisp of her soul power into his sea of consciousness.
In her sea of consciousness, she saw the dark soul and the original body existing in a Tai Chi duality, with one background black and the other white. The two humanoid soul bodies sat on the Yin-Yang sphere, but the dark soul's posture was not good, like a spoiled brat. When he saw her coming, he lay down on his side and was cracking melon seeds in his hand.
The original soul sat upright on the white sphere, eyes closed, ready to be slaughtered.
Yao Sisi: "Is it that serious? The soul is even emitting black smoke."
How could she possibly cure this? She simply sat down in front of the original soul, holding a magic artifact that resembled an array in her hand. Fortunately, she herself was a master artifact refiner and had tinkered with all sorts of strange and unusual magic artifacts; otherwise, she would have been powerless.
Both his consciousness and soul were extremely fragile and could not withstand any impact. In particular, Qi Mu's soul cultivation was not at the Nascent Soul stage, making him even more vulnerable. Yao Sisi held the Soul-Seizing Flag and gradually removed the demonic energy from his body.
This process would undoubtedly be extremely painful. The body, which had been keeping its eyes closed, suddenly opened them. It felt excruciating pain and at the same time, it activated its five senses.
He initially thought it was Dark Soul causing trouble, but when he saw Yao Sisi, he was taken aback. "How did you get in here..."
Yao Sisi: "If I hadn't come soon, your whole body would have turned black."
The main body lowered its head, its whole body filled with self-loathing. It sighed, "If I can't ascend, I'll just be a handful of yellow earth sooner or later. Whether it's black or not doesn't matter."
Yao Sisi disagreed, saying, "That's true, but if it can be resolved, there's no need to endure the corruption of inner demons. Just bear with it, and I'll help you remove the superficial demonic energy to alleviate the problem as much as possible."
His thoughts drifted back to her, and he said casually, "Actually, it's not entirely painful."
Because inner demons can perceive the deepest desires, they love to tempt their hosts. How can they be tempted if they don't like it? Healing pain—how many cultivators are afraid of pain?
The root cause is that they are trapped in their inner demons and unwilling to break free.
Yao Sisi didn't care what he said. She quickly formed hand seals to control his soul so that it wouldn't move or resist. This step went very smoothly, and the other party was indeed not on guard and allowed her to operate. But the difficult part was removing the poison.
The Soul-Capturing Banner flew above his head, and wisps of demonic energy floating around him were drawn into the banner. At first, it was fine; the outer demonic energy was not stable. Before long, the unstable demonic energy was completely consumed, leaving behind a pitch-black mass that looked like poison stains on his body.
The flag can no longer be attracted by force alone; too much force will scatter a person's soul. Yao Sisi took out a small knife, its blade extremely thin and gleaming with a chilling light.
With a flick of her wrist, the blade split into three, flying toward the three most severely injured spots on his body. Yao Sisi moved very lightly; otherwise, with her soul power, she could have controlled not just three, but thirty blades.
The demonic energy was cut off by her knife, and like drops of blood, drops of ink-like substance flowed down his body.
Seeing him trembling all over and in great pain, Yao Sisi felt sorry for him and said, "If it hurts too much, you can absorb the one next to you. I think he's quite fat."
Dark Soul, who was watching the drama unfold nearby: "???"
Removing poison is indeed painful, and not everyone can endure it. But this person dared to split open his soul and create a dark soul when he was still a low-level cultivator. He is no ordinary person.
"No ordinary person would be this ruthless," Dark Soul muttered to himself. "When my sweetheart comes, I feel pain all over. Humph, you green tea b*tch!"
Yao Sisi looked at Qi Mu's soul with heartache: "Don't bear the pain. If you need to moan, then moan. Making a sound can relieve the pain."
The main body's lips trembled, yet it managed a forced smile: "It doesn't hurt much, go ahead and do it."
Yao Sisi sighed helplessly, "How come I never realized you were so stubborn before?"
Not far away, Dark Soul thought to himself: There's a lot you haven't noticed.
The original body asked the question that concerned him most: "How long do you estimate it will take before you can ascend?"
Yao Sisi hesitated, unsure how to answer him, and finally gave a conservative estimate: "A hundred years!"
The main body nodded. "That means you'll ascend within a hundred years. I don't know what the environment will be like up there, or whether you'll be able to adapt."
Yao Sisi said nonchalantly, "The spiritual energy in the upper realm is more abundant, so how can we not adapt? We didn't just blindly rush into this sect without knowing anything. Let's take it one step at a time. Besides, the sect leader should have information about the upper realm."
The main body paused without speaking, as the swirling demonic energy blocked his view. After a while, he mustered his courage and asked with a hidden thought, "What are your plans for the Upper Realm? There's no one to take care of you. If you had a Daoist partner, I would feel at ease."
While fiddling with her throwing knives, Yao Sisi chatted with him, hoping to distract him: "Forget it, no one's going to take care of you, so you're looking for a Daoist partner? A Daoist partner isn't a nanny or servant. I'm capable and powerful, so naturally I'd look for someone I like. It's just that I haven't met anyone special yet."
The main body closed its eyes and stopped speaking.
This is probably what they mean by rejection.
He's really not that special. Maybe it's good to be apart for a while. Childhood sweethearts can't compete with a sudden, unexpected love.
The ending was as expected, but I still couldn't help feeling sad: we met when we were young and have been together ever since, longer than the average childhood sweetheart.
Not far away, Dark Soul stopped eating sunflower seeds. Unlike his original self, he wasn't heartbroken. He asked a crucial question: "So what kind of thing counts as special?"
Yao Sisi gasped in surprise; this was a difficult topic to discuss.
"This is a bit of a mystery. First of all, you know about hormones, or genes, whatever it is, there's something that controls your thoughts. That's why people often say that when they like someone, they don't know why or when it started. It's because they're controlled by their genes. When you're controlled, how can you know your own thoughts? So when I'm controlled by my genes, that's when I'll start thinking about these things."
Dark Soul spat bluntly: "Is this what they call being controlled by your lower body?"
Yao Sisi: "Of course not."
Dark Soul: "From what you've said, it sounds like an extraterrestrial demon that secretly controls the souls of cultivators and can even alter their memories."
Yao Sisi: "It's not that it's a demon. It's something that most people experience during their growth. I've just seen too much of it, so it's become less noticeable. If you're a relatively simple person, you can easily be controlled by your emotions without realizing it. Although I don't have that thought, there are so many kinds of emotional bonds. Just like with you guys, we also have bonds. For example, I don't want anything to happen to you!"
After a long silence, the main body finally spoke: "As you said, hatred is also a kind of bond."
Yao Sisi: "Of course."
She raised her hand and put the blade away, and the array flag was also put back into her storage space.
"The most serious part has been cleared away. The deeper the pain, the more painful it is. Violent methods are not suitable. You will have to resolve it slowly on your own."
After saying this, she withdrew from his sea of consciousness and casually dispelled the formation. According to her estimate, it would only take a few months to eliminate the inner demon.
She gave up her cave dwelling and, taking advantage of Qi Mu's relatively good condition, quickly slipped out of the cave. "This man is truly terrifying when he goes crazy."
She didn't want to create so many entanglements in the future; she wanted to avoid getting involved with others and prevent delaying her ascension.
She will surely ascend to heaven within a hundred years!
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